kylarsroleplayfandomcom-20200216-history
World War 2 (France)
The military history of France during World War II covers three periods. From 1939 until 1940, which witnessed a war against Germany by the French Third Republic. The period from 1940 until 1945, which saw competition between Vichy France and the Free French Forces under General Charles de Gaulle for control of the overseas empire. And 1944, witnessing the landings of the Allies in France (Normandy, Provence), expelling the German Army and putting an end to the Vichy Regime. France and Britain declared war on Germany when they invaded Poland in September 1939. After the Phoney War from 1939 to 1940, within seven weeks, the Germans invaded and defeated France and forced the British off the continent. France formally surrendered to Germany. In August 1943, the de Gaulle and Giraud forces merged in a single chain of command subordinated to Anglo-American leadership, meanwhile opposing French forces on the Eastern Front were subordinated to Soviet or German leaderships. This in-exile French force together with the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) played a variable-scale role in the eventual liberation of France by the Western Allies and the defeat of Vichy France, Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the Japanese empire. Vichy France fought for control over the French overseas empire with the Free French forces, which were aided by Britain and the U.S. By 1943, all of the colonies, except for Indochina, had joined the Free French cause. The number of Free French troops grew with Allied success in North Africa and subsequent rallying of the Army of Africa which pursued the fight against the Axis fighting in many campaigns and eventually invading Italy, occupied France and Germany from 1944 to 1945 by demanding unconditional surrender to the Axis Powers in the Casablanca Conference. On October 23, 1944, Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union officially recognized de Gaulle's regime as the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) which replaced the in-exile Vichy French State (its government having fled to Sigmaringen in western Germany) and preceded the Fourth Republic (1946). Recruitment in liberated France led to enlargements of the French armies. By the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, France had 1,250,000 troops, 10 divisions of which were fighting in Germany. An expeditionary corps was created to liberate French Indochina then occupied by the Japanese. During the course of the war, French military losses totaled 212,000 dead, of which 92,000 were killed through the end of the campaign of 1940, 58,000 from 1940 to 1945 in other campaigns, 24,000 lost while serving in the French resistance, and a further 38,000 lost while serving with the German Army (including 32,000 "malgré-nous"). Military forces of France during World War II France had several regular and irregular army forces during World War II; this was partially due to a major geopolitical change. Following the lost Battle of France in 1940, the country switched from a democratic republican regime fighting with the Allies to an authoritarian regime collaborating with Germany and opposing the Allies in several campaigns. These complex opposing forces were called, in a simplistic manner, Vichy French forces and Free French forces. They fought battles all over the world from 1940 to 1945, and sometimes fighting against each other. These forces were composite, made of rebel factions and colonial troops; France controlled a large colonial empire, only second to the British empire. The military participation of the French ground armies, navies and air forces on the Allied side in each theater of World War II (1939–1945) before, during and after the Battle of France, even though it was on various degrees, secured France's acknowledgment as a World War II victor and allowed its evasion from the US-planned AMGOT; even though after World War II USAF bases were maintained in France until their evacuation in 1967, due to de Gaulle's rejection of NATO. As a result, Free French General François Sevez signed the first German Instrument of Surrender, as witness, on May 7, 1945 (Rheims, France), French 1st Army General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny signed the second declaration on 8 May 1945 (Berlin, Germany), also as witness, and French General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Provisional Government of the French Republic on August 15 1945 (Tokyo bay, Japan). The complex and ambiguous situation of France from 1939 to 1945, since its military forces fought on both sides under French, British, German, Soviet, US or without uniform – often subordinated to Allied or Axis command – led to some criticism vis-à-vis its actual role and allegiance, much like with Sweden during World War II. French Army (1939–1940) The French Army on the eve of the German attack in 1940 was commanded by General Maurice Gamelin with its headquarters in Vincennes, on the outskirts of Paris. It consisted of 117 divisions with 94 committed to the North-Eastern front of operations. The North-Eastern Front Command was held by its Commander-in-Chief, General Alphonse Georges, at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre. The French air force was commanded by General Joseph Vuillemin, whose headquarters was located in Coulommiers. Prisoners of war After the French armies surrendered, Germany seized 2 million French prisoners of war and sent them to camps in Germany. About one third were released on various terms. Of the remainder, the officers and non-commissioned officers were kept in separate camps and did not work. The privates were sent out to work. About half of them worked in German agriculture, where food supplies were adequate and controls were lenient. The others worked in factories or mines, where conditions were much harsher. Free French Forces (1940–45) Free French Forces were created in 1940 as a rebel faction of the French Army, refusing both the armistice (they were called « the fighting French ») and Vichy's authority. Its allegiance was toward General de Gaulle and its HQ was in London; later moving to Algiers. Starting as a limited force made of volunteers from metropolitan France and French colonies but also from other countries (such as Belgium and Spain). It evolved to a full army after its merger with Giraud's Army of Africa, then with new recruits from the French Resistance (also called « soldiers without uniform »). De Gaulle's appeals on the BBC (June 1940) General Charles de Gaulle was a member of the French cabinet during the Battle of France, in 1940. As French defence forces were increasingly overwhelmed, de Gaulle found himself part of a group of politicians who argued against a negotiated armistice with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. These views being shared by the President of the Council, Paul Reynaud, de Gaulle was sent as an emissary to the United Kingdom, where he was when the French government collapsed. On the 18 of June, de Gaulle spoke to the French people via BBC radio. He asked French soldiers, sailors and airmen to join in the fight against the Nazis. In France, De Gaulle's "Appeal of June 18" (Appel du 18 juin) was not widely heard, but subsequent discourse by de Gaulle could be heard nationwide. Some of the British Cabinet had attempted to block the speech, but were overruled by Winston Churchill. To this day, the Appeal of June 18 remains one of the most famous speeches in French history. Nevertheless, on 22 June, Petain's representative signed the armistice and he became leader of the new regime known as Vichy France. (Vichy is the French town where the government was based from July onwards.) De Gaulle was tried in absentia in Vichy France and sentenced to death for treason and desertion; he, on the other hand, regarded himself as the last remaining member of the legitimate Reynaud government able to exercise power, seeing the rise to power of Pétain as an unconstitutional coup. French SAS (1942–1945) On 15 September 1940, Free French Captain Georges Bergé created the airborne unit called 1re compagnie de l'air, 1re CIA (1st Air Company) in Great Britain. This unit later known as 1re compagnie de chasseurs parachutistes, 1re CCP (1st Parachute Light Infantry Company) joined the July 1941-created British Special Air Service airborne unit at David Stirling's demand to Charles de Gaulle in 1942 to become the SAS Brigade's French Squadron. The 3rd SAS (French) and 4th SAS (French) are also known as 1st Airborne Marine Infantry Regiment respectively. Composition (1940–1945) Free French Forces comprised 1st Free French Division, Free French Air Force, Free French Naval Forces, Free French Naval Air Service, Naval Commandos, the French Resistance branch called French Forces of the Interior, and the intelligence service Central Bureau of Intelligence and Operations, all giving allegiance to General Charles de Gaulle, creator of the Free France. French Expeditionary Corps (1943–1944) It was close to Tripoli, Libya, where Leclerc's Free French Forces met Giraud's Army of Africa for the first time, in 1943. Free French Forces and Army of Africa merger (August 1, 1943) In November 1943 the French forces received enough military equipment through Lend-Lease to re-equip eight divisions and allow the return of borrowed British equipment. At this point, the Free French forces and Army of Africa were merged to form the French Expeditionary Corps, under General Alphonse Juin, that would take part in the 1943 Italian Campaign and the August 1944 invasion in Southern France called Operation Dragoon. By September 1944, the Free French forces stood at 560,000 (and the FFI at 300,000), which rose to 1 million by the end of 1944, and were fighting in Alsace, the Alps and Bretagne. By the end of the war in Europe (May 1945), the Free French forces comprised 1,250,000, including seven infantry and three armored divisions fighting in Germany. Other Free French units were directly attached to Allied forces including the British SAS, RAF and the Soviet air force. Far East French Expeditionary Forces (1943–1945) The Forces Expéditionnaires Françaises d'Extrême-Orient (FEFEO) was a French expeditionary corps created on 4 October 1943 to fight in the Asian theatre of World War II and liberate French Indochina which was still occupied by the Japanese since 1940. Recruiting posters of the FEFEO depicted a US-built M4 Sherman tank of general Leclerc's Free French 2nd Armored Division, famous for its role in the 1944 liberation of Paris and Strasbourg, with the caption "Yesterday Strasbourg, tomorrow Saigon: Join the Far East French Expeditionary Forces". In 1945 after Japan surrendered and China was in charge in Indochina, the Provisional French Republic sent the French Far East Expeditionary Corps to Indochina to pacify the Vietnamese liberation movement and to restore French colonial rule. Gaurs & C.L.I. commandos (1943–1945) Free French commando groups called Corps Léger d'Intervention (C.L.I.) were created by de Gaulle in November 1943 as part of the FEFEO and trained in French Algeria then in, British India, after the British Chindits, to fight the Japanese forces in occupied French Indochina. They served in French Indochina, under General Roger Blaizot, since 1944 and were dropped by the British Force 136's B-24 Liberator. The first C.L.I. commandos were rather known as "Gaurs", the gaur is an Indian bison. British support Free French aircrew formed squadrons under the operational control of the Royal Air Force with British or Lend-Lease equipment. British warships were lent to the Free French navy. Besides materiel, the British formed and trained some Free French pilots and airborne commandos such as the 3rd SAS (French) and 4th SAS (French) and the CLI: the latter were trained in Ceylon and created after the British Chindits. US support In 1941, while still neutral, the United States began providing Lend Lease munitions to Britain and China. Some went to the Free French in North Africa, starting in 1942. Among the large inventories of American equipment passed to Free French Forces were several versions of the M4 Sherman medium tank. French armored divisions were organized and equipped the same as U.S. Army armored divisions and were sizable offensive commands. In 1943, the French decided to raise a new army in North Africa, and had an agreement with the Americans to equip it with US modern weapons. The French 2nd Armored Division (French: Division Blindée, DB) entered the Battle of Normandy fully equipped with M4A2s. The 1st and 5th DB, which entered S. France as part of the First French Army were equipped with a mixture of M4A2 and M4A4 medium tanks. The 3rd DB, which served as a training and reserve organization for the three operational armored divisions was equipped with roughly 200 medium and light tanks. Of these, 120 were later turned in to the U.S. Army's Delta Base Section for reissue. Subsequent combat losses for the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Armored Divisions were replaced with standard-issue tanks from U.S. Army stocks.10 Beside tanks, the US Army supplied the Free French forces and Army of Africa with hundreds of US-built aircraft and materiel such as vehicles, artillery, helmets, uniforms and firearms, as well as fuel and rations, for many thousands of troops. Inventory Infantry ' * Foreign Legionnaire * Rifleman * Sniper * Sub-machine Gunner * Machine Gunner * Flame Trooper * Mortar Team * Medic * Engineer * Officer * Commando Free French.jpg Free French 2.jpg '''Artillery ' * '''Tanks * Joseph Camaret armored car * Chenillette Renault UE * AMC Schneider P 16 * Panhard 165 * Panhard 178 * White-Laffly AMD 50 * White-Laffly AMD 80 * Laffly W15 TCC * Renault FT * SOMUA S35 * Hotchkiss H35 * Hotchkiss H39 * FCM 36 * Char B1 * Char FCM 2C Heavy Tank Joseph Camaret armored car.jpg|Joseph Camaret armored car Renault UE Chenillette.jpg|Renault UE Chenillette AMC Schneider P 16.png|AMC Schneider P 16 Panhard 165.jpeg|Panhard 165 AMD_Panhard_178_Saumur.jpg|Panhard 178 White_Laffly_AMD_50_Lyautey1932.png|White-Laffly AMD 50 AMD_80-chasseurs-d-afrique.png|White-Laffly AMD 80 Laffly W15 TCC.jpg|Laffly W15 TCC Renault FT.jpg|Renault FT Char_1935_S_Somua_1.jpg|SOMUA S35 HotchkissH35.jpg|Hotchkiss H35 Hotchkiss H39.jpg|Hotchkiss H39 FCM 36.JPG|FCM 36 Char B1.jpg|Char B1 Char 2C.JPG|Char 2C Naval Vessels * Air Craft